Drone Hardware Systems Lead — Equity & Impact

Applied Electrodynamics, Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition, Inc. seeks a Hardware Systems Lead to own the drone hardware architecture, prototype, test, and optimize for survivability in flight.

You will integrate sensors, compute, power, and flight controllers, balancing weight, performance, and cost while collaborating with autonomy, software, and flight test teams. You will lead hardware reviews and mentor engineers, planning environmental and durability tests, and supporting field operations and demonstrations.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or related field.
• 10+ years hands-on hardware engineering experience on drones, UAS, or other aircraft.
• Strong command of the whole hardware system: airframe and structures, electrical architecture, power distribution, harness design, avionics, and how they interact.
• Experience designing hardware to survive demanding environments—vibration, shock, ingress protection, thermal management, EMI/EMC.
• Hands-on lab and field experience: prototypes, wiring, flight tests, diagnosing failures and crashes.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end hardware architecture for drone platforms.
• Prototype, build, integrate, debug, and test hardware on real aircraft.
• Define survivability for sensors, compute, avionics, harnesses, enclosures against vibration, shock, and environmental stressors.
• Lead integration of sensors, compute, power systems, communications, and flight controllers onto airframes.
• Own SWaP tradeoffs to balance performance, flight time, payload, and cost.
• Define hardware requirements and reference architectures that scale across aircraft configurations.
• Plan environmental, durability, and flight testing; analyze failures and drive design fixes.
• Be the technical authority for hardware tradeoffs across mechanical, electrical, avionics, software, and flight test.
• Lead hardware design reviews and mentor engineers.
• Support flight test campaigns, demonstrations, and field operations.

Skills

Hardware engineering

Drones/aircraft

SWaP optimization

Vibration and EMI

Sensor integration

Flight testing

Prototyping

Systems thinking

Aerospace standards

Education

BS/MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or related field

Job description

Applied Intuition, Inc. seeks a Hardware Systems Lead to own the drone hardware architecture, prototype, test, and optimize for survivability in flight.

You will integrate sensors, compute, power, and flight controllers, balancing weight, performance, and cost while collaborating with autonomy, software, and flight test teams. You will lead hardware reviews and mentor engineers, planning environmental and durability tests, and supporting field operations and demonstrations.